Twitter is taking new actions to curtail followers of the so-called QAnon conspiracy theory in an effort to crackdown on misinformation and harassment.
The Tuesday night announcement comes as the fringe theories espoused by QAnon’s adherents have crept into mainstream politics, with some right-wing candidates expressing support for the movement going into the 2020 election. QAnon supporters subscribe to the notion that there is a child-killing satanic cabal working to control the United States.
“We’ve been clear that we will take strong enforcement action on behavior that has the potential to lead to offline harm. In line with this approach, this week we are taking further action on so-called ‘QAnon’ activity across the service,” Twitter announced the crackdown in a thread on the platform.
“We will permanently suspend accounts Tweeting about these topics that we know are engaged in violations of our multi-account policy, coordinating abuse around individual victims, or are attempting to evade a previous suspension — something we’ve seen more of in recent weeks,” it added.
We will permanently suspend accounts Tweeting about these topics that we know are engaged in violations of our multi-account policy, coordinating abuse around individual victims, or are attempting to evade a previous suspension — something we’ve seen more of in recent weeks.
— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) July 22, 2020
NBC News reported on Tuesday that the company has removed more than 7,000 accounts associated with the conspiracy theories. The changes will also impact some 150,000 more accounts because Twitter will stop recommending QAnon-affiliated accounts and will limit content circulation.
Twitter said the changes will be rolled out this week and “will continue to review this activity across our service and update our rules and enforcement approach again if necessary.”
“As we work at scale to protect the public conversation in the face of evolving threats, we’ll continue to lead with transparency and offer more context on our efforts,” the tech giant said.
These actions will be rolled out comprehensively this week. We will continue to review this activity across our service and update our rules and enforcement approach again if necessary.
— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) July 22, 2020
In early May, Facebook deleted a wave of accounts, pages, and groups linked to QAnon. The company contended that the accounts violated its rules against inauthentic behavior.
Proponents of QAnon, which began on internet messaging boards, believe that President Trump is somehow working from within to dismantle pedophilia rings associated with the “deep state” and Hollywood. The movement has also pushed the conspiracy that billionaire Microsoft founder Bill Gates developed the coronavirus to force mass vaccinations upon people.
